Just a short post to say that on the weekend we were privileged that Coutts Sailors' Home was included in the National Trust Tour of Newcastle.
I had been contacted some months ago (before being shortlisted for the Heritage Awards as it happens) about being involved and sharing our home and our story with interested National Trust members.
Always willing to share and encourage we agreed, and it has now happened.
We were not expecting quite as many people as actually attended (hundreds!), but were delighted with the interest and the feedback that we received.
A big thank you to the organisers for their work on the day supervising, directing traffic and ensuring safety..and a big thank you to all those who visited, for their interest, their conversation and their appreciation for the efforts we made to 'take it back to as original as possible'.
They were in general a discerning bunch and noticed the details that we had taken special care over - the cedar skirting boards and architraves, all milled to match originals and secured in place in the traditional way, the staircase balustrading and the verandah iron columns replicating the originals based on photographic evidence, the cornices with embellishments in the entry and hallways, period features like the lighting, mirrors, clock and other furnishings...to name a few.
Perhaps in a few years time we will 'do it all again' and by then we will no longer be saying there's still work to do!
A postscript.
Happy to discuss more details, introduce suitable heritage craft tradespeople and provide a pdf of the 'booklet' about Coutts and its renovation...just comment and I'll get back to you.
